JANUARY 4, 2021www.chronicleonline.com

Your choice ...It’s the first week of 2021. What goals do you have for yourself in the New Year?A. Improve my fitness and diet. New year, new me.B. Get out of debt and start saving. This is the year I pay off my credit cards and live as I earn.C. Find love. I’d be ecstatic to share my life with someone new.D. Travel more. Adventure is calling my name.E. Explore a new hobby/activity. There’s something I’ve been meaning to try, and this year, I will.F. Quit smoking.G. Spend less time on my phone and live in the moment.H. Start volunteering, or volunteer more.I. Clear out the clutter; clean up, reorganize and redecorate the house.K. My 2021 goal isn’t listed. I’ll write it in the comments.

To vote, visit www. chronicleonline.com. Scroll down the home page and look for the poll box in the right-hand column.

Results will appear next Monday. Find last week’s online poll results./Page A3

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Citrus County COVID-19 update

According to the Florida Department of Health, 71 positive cases were reported in Citrus County since the latest up-date. Nine new deaths were reported for a total of 283.

To date in the county, 6,903 people have tested positive (including 47 non-residents).

One new hospital-ization was reported Sunday for a total of 529 hospitalized.

Editor’s Note: For a detailed chart re-garding coronavirus cases in Citrus County, see theSunday Chronicle each week.

Register for free fishing clinic Jan. 5Registration will

open on Tuesday,Jan. 5 for the 17th an-nual Kids Fishing Clinic. This catch-and-release event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at Fort Island Trail Park in Crystal River.

Participants must be accompanied by an adult and each child will receive a free fishing rod and reel.

Pre-registration is required at apm.activecommunities.com/citruscountyparks.

Learn the basics of environmental stew-ardship, fishing ethics, angling skills and safety. For informa-tion, call 352-527-7540.

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C I T R U S C O U N T Y

Project1:Layout 1 6/10/2014 1:13 PM Page 1

Year in REVIEW

— From staff reports

BUSTER THOMPSONStaff writer

It was as if school bells would never ring again when COVID-19 shut down campuses across Florida in March 2020.

Like their counterparts across the globe, Citrus County School Dis-trict officials and staff were tasked with continuing education amid a pandemic, launching new virtual classrooms, food distribution pro-grams, sanitation protocols, mask mandates and policy playbooks for athletics.

“It’s been one of the most chal-lenging and unpredictable years, both personally and professionally, and probably since my tenure as su-perintendent,” said Sandra “Sam” Himmel, the county’s school super-intendent since 2004.

Himmel praised the school dis-trict, its students and their families for their understanding as they all tried to navigate through a year of uncertainty and additional rules.

‘a crazy year’S C H O O L D I S T R I C T O F F I C I A L S

L O O K B A C K O N 2 0 2 0 :

JEFF AMY,DARLENE

SUPERVILLE AND KATE BRUMBACK

Associated Press

ATLANTA — President Donald Trump badgered and pleaded with Geor-gia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Trump the victory.

The conversation Sat-urday was the latest step in an unprecedented ef-fort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The renewed intervention and the per-sistent and unfounded claims of fraud by the first president to lose reelec-tion in almost 30 years come nearly two weeks before Trump leaves of-fice and two days before twin runoffs in Georgia that will determine con-trol of the Senate.

Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken with Georgia’s secretary of state, Repub-lican Brad Raffensperger, a day earlier.

Audio snippets of the conversation were posted online by The Washington Post. A recording of the call was later obtained by The Associated Press from a person who was on the call.

The president, who has refused to accept his loss to the Democratic president-elect, is heard telling Raffensperger at one point: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Be-cause we won the state.”

MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle file photosLecanto Primary support staff member Kellie Redner hands out two iPads to a parent of students outside of the school last year. Citrus County School District officials and staff were tasked with continuing education amid a pandemic, launching new virtual classrooms, food distribution programs, sanitation protocols, mask mandates and policy playbooks for athletics.

Citrus schools students, parents, personnel adjust to changes

BARRY SCHWARTZSpecial to the Chronicle

So, you think it has been a chal-lenging and exhaustive year? Charles Dickens may have summed it up best when he said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

All of this was running through my mind as I was on my daily walk with my highly energetic dog, Skye. Crossing the Ozello cause-way, near the end of the trail, I saw this orange tank like monster of a vehicle parked with two peo-ple on top, watching the sunset.

As beautiful as the sunset is, this vehicle with a large “Drive The GLOBE” on its side, is a showstopper.

I yelled up to the guy on top, “Where have you been”? His re-sponse was “everywhere.”

My wife, Bette, and I have been

prolific travelers, I was intrigued, and we agreed to meet at his campsite in Homosassa a few days later.

I brought some beer along as the universal housewarming gift and talked with Michael Ladden, 52. He helped found Drive the GLOBE about 25 years ago.

For many years, he has been traveling the world as an indepen-dent overland adventurer — sometimes backpacking, but many times using Land Rovers to bounce around unconventional places with few roads.

Ladden learned many lessons moving vehicles through interna-tional borders in South America and Africa, shipping cars across oceans, finding routes in areas with no roads, truck breakdowns, contracting malaria, getting

Sandra “Sam” Himmel’s reacts to the unveiling of a sign Feb. 25, held by former County Commission Chairman Brian Coleman recognizing the Citrus County School District’s Superintendent as the Fl. 2020 School Superintendent of the Year.See CRAZY/Page A2

Circumnavigating the world, finding OzelloMontana man on global adventure

BARRY SCHWARTZ/Special to the ChronicleMichael Ladden, 52, helped found Drive the GLOBE about 25 years ago. But COVID happened and Barry Schwartz found him in Ozello, as almost every border in the world is closed. See WORLD/Page A2

Trump: ‘Find’ more votesPresident

confronts Ga. election chief

See VOTES/Page A6

NFL: Bucs beat Falcons to close regular season / B1

“They adapted to prob-ably everything we had to change within the school system,” she said. “We were putting a plan in place that was unfamiliar to us; there were a lot of challenges for us.”

So far during the first semester of the 2020-21 school year, which the school board agreed to start late on Aug. 20 and end Jan. 15, no schools were shuttered and no sports teams were quar-antined because of an outbreak.

Hosting between 15,000 and 16,000 students and employing roughly 2,300 people, the school dis-trict dismissed De.18 for the holiday break after recording a total 265 COVID-19 cases — 174 students and 91 employees.

Himmel and Assistant School Superintendent Mike Mullen credited the Florida Department of Health in Citrus County and school staff for isolat-ing and tracking cases of the novel coronavirus to keep them contained.

“Our principals have done an excellent job being contact-tracers, which I don’t think was in their job description when we hired them,” Mullen said. “We’ve had cases, but we’ve managed them well.”

At the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran or-dered public and private schools statewide to first close March 17.

Springtime award cere-monies, dances and state testings were also put on hold while schools had to make the tough choice on what to do with their graduations.

Drive-thru gradsCrystal River, Lecanto

and Citrus high schools decided to host drive-thru graduations, giving fami-lies a front-row seat to their child’s diploma re-ception from the comfort of their decorated vehicles.

Himmel said she’s happy the district waited to make a call on whether to have the events, thank-ing parents for appreciat-ing the pause.

“I’ve heard many, many comments about how pleased they were; it was almost a real graduation without sitting in the sun for three hours,” she said. “I appreciate them being patient with us because we are not a district that

just jumps in and makes a decision the first time we see something.”

Mullen said one of hardest challenges from the impacts of the novel coronavirus was retaining employees by making sure they could perform an essential job to justify their pay.

“A lot of people during this pandemic have lost their income, lost their jobs and lost their liveli-hood,” he said, “and we were able to protect our staff from being a conse-quence in that area.”

During spring break, after campuses closed, district Chief Academic Officer Dr. Scott Hebert and his staff created the Citrus CARES remote learning plan to help guide students and their teachers through the school year while narrow-ing learning gaps.

“Once the kids were working from home, we didn’t know if and when we would be back in brick-and-mortar,” Hebert said, “but we knew stu-dents weren’t getting what they needed from home.”

They also knew more strategies would have to be made for summer school and the 2020-21 school year, which would offer either traditional or online schooling for fami-lies to choose from.

“As we implemented those plans, we were also saying, ‘what’s next?’” He-bert said.

In a matter of months, the district founded its Citrus Virtual school, which had around 4,000 students enrolled at its peak before many trans-ferred back into regular classrooms.

Hebert said teachers have done well getting creative with their online classrooms.

“This has catapulted our district to think out-side the box on how we do things,” he said. “Our staff has really figured out how to use the technology to provide the best resources out there.”

Good from adaptingGood things have come

from adapting to COVID-19.

Feeding students was another priority for the school district, which part-nered with the Citrus County Education Foun-dation and Citrus County Blessings to bus out or hand out prepackaged meals to children in need.

For the first nine weeks of the current school year, just under 500,000 school meals were distributed, and the program will con-tinue through to summer.

Working with the school district’s information tech-nology department and Spectrum, the education foundation was also able to pay for families to ac-cess Wi-Fi hotspots.

In an effort to give fami-lies a direct link to its spe-cific departments, the school district setup the Let’s Talk online platform, allowing parents to get a quick and accurate re-sponse for inquiries.

Lindsay Blair, the school district’s public informa-tion and communications officer, said open lines be-tween the community and schools helped answer a lot of questions, like in-forming infected students not to worry about inform-ing health department or school officials.

“We needed to make sure we protected their identifies,” she said, “and were sensitive to their needs in getting better.”

Sharing infoThere was also the

launch of the district’s COVID-19 Dashboard, il-lustrating the quantities and locations of cases in district schools and offices.

“We really wanted to make sure we were being transparent on where the cases were,” Blair said.

Supporters of student athletes could also start buying game tickets on-line, which the district im-plemented to curb lines and stop hand-to-hand

exchanges.“It’s been great; we’ve

had our hiccups here and there…but parents are starting to understand ... the process of getting into games,” Blair said, adding families are adhering to safety and mask-wearing policies while in stadiums.

What else?Along with adapting to

COVID-19 this year, the school district also: cele-brated Himmel as Flori-da’s superintendent of 2020; honored Citrus Springs Middle School food services manager Al-thea Council in May as the state’s support person of the year; remodeled en-trances to three elemen-tary schools; changed the streetscape of the Roger Weaver Lecanto Educa-tional Complex; and up-graded heating and air-conditioning units districtwide.

Schools also marked their first complete year under the protection of their district’s armed guardians, who now total nine after two were hired to their ranks this year.

Buddy Grant also said farewell, retiring as the district’s first police chief and relinquishing his role as school safety specialist and guardian commander to former Citrus County Sheriff ’s Office Capt. David Vincent.

“Even though it’s been a crazy year,” Himmel said, “I believe we’ve accom-plished a lot of things.”

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CRAZYContinued from Page A1

BARRY SCHWARTZ/Special to the ChronicleMichael Ladden sold his businesses and home in Montana and decided it is time to circumnavigate the world. Why? “Explore. Inspire. Share. First and foremost, we hope to inspire others to get out, explore the world, meet new people and see unbelievable things.”

caught in the Rwanda genocide tragedy and sim-ply navigating logistics of far-flung, off-the-beaten path places.

He took these skills home to Montana and started helping others organize self-drive expeditions. Ex-tended overland travel is a complicated endeavor and he has been teaching workshops so others can organize overland expeditions.

Eventually, Ladden sold his businesses and home in Montana and decided it is time to circumnavigate the world. I asked him why? His answer, “Explore. Inspire. Share. First and foremost, we hope to inspire others to get out, explore the world, meet new people and see unbelievable things.”

He believes that by sharing his experiences as he travels the world, others will gain a new understand-ing of how much they in common with people from other cultures.

The behemoth of a truck, which he thinks of as a giant attention-getting puppy, is a former Swiss Moun-tain Police Unimog made by Mercedes. He added an Army surplus Humvee trailer that he custom rebuilt as his 75-square-foot living quarters.

He has enough solar panels to supply electricity to operate for four days, hot water shower, computers, satellite phone and plenty of camping/cooking gear.

Roughly speaking, the 220,000-mile plan is: North America to Central America, following the Pan Amer-ican highway to the tip of South America. Then visit Antarctica, ship the vehicle to Southern Africa and complete a Trans-Africa crossing, ferry on to Europe and from there cross Asia and finally end in Australia.

But COVID happened and I found him in Ozello, as almost every border in the world is closed.

“This is probably the first time in the history of the world that every single human being is sharing the same problem,” Ladden said, noting he will spend 2021 touring the United States before venturing across international borders. Luckily, his philosophy of planning is “as little as possible so you are not disappointed.”

You can follow his experiences at his website: drivetheglobe.com/rtw.

MATTHEW BECK/Chronicle file photoCrystal River High School food services worker Jennifer Hurtado shows her fellow employees they are No. 1 Friday morning as she and the others load school buses with coolers full of food for students May 1, 2020.

D-I-Y ONLINE CALENDARn Local groups are welcome to add their upcoming

events to the Chronicle’s online community calendar. Go to www.chronicleonline.com. At the very top of the screen, click on “Submit your news.” Sign in or create an account.

n Once signed in, click on “Calendar Events” in the left-hand column, then click on “Create an event.”

n Fill in all fields — those marked with a red asterisk (*) are required. Click the “Create Event” button at the end.

WORLDContinued from Page A1

Health Department has temporary jobsFlorida Department of

Health in Citrus County plans to hire additional tem-porary COVID-19 positions to assist with its response efforts.

Applicants must possess a basic skill set and a will-ingness to work long hours and learn on the fly. Avail-able positions range from senior clerk to biological scientist, with RN, LPN and other titles. All COVID-19 team members assist at the Citrus Springs testing site (soon to be assisting with the COVID-19 vaccination efforts), as well as contact tracing and case investigations.

These are temporary po-sitions guaranteed through June 30, 2021.

Interested applicants should email Janora.Wade@FLHealth.gov or Anne.Murphy@FLHealth.gov to receive a State of Florida application.

RSVP for free weight-loss

seminarCitrus Memorial is offer-

ing a free weight loss semi-nar at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, at the Citrus Me-morial Health Foundation YMCA in Lecanto.

“Is Weight Loss Surgery Right For You?” will feature a presentation from general surgeon Dr. Parth Patel. The seminar will give a gen-eral overview of obesity and weight loss options, includ-ing the process to become a candidate for a robotic-as-sisted gastric sleeve procedure.

Masks will be required and seating will be limited; an RSVP is required by calling 352-637-3337 or vis-iting citrusmh.com.

Join Friends group to aid

Homosassa libraryThe Friends of the Ho-

mosassa Library are seek-ing new members and hoping current members renew their memberships for 2021 in order to raise funds for the library. They are also planning a tenta-tive book sale for February 2021, depending on the status of the pandemic.

The Friends of the Ho-mosassa Library have can-celed both the spring 2020 and fall 2020 book sales due to the pandemic, mak-ing 2020 a very unique year for the group. Started in the 1960s with just a handful of members and now number-ing over 100, they have held at least one large book sale every year raising $5,000 to $6,000 during each sale.

To become a Friend of the Homosassa Library, submit your name and ad-dress and choose which membership you want. The memberships are: Individ-ual, $10; Family, $15; Con-tributor, $25; Sponsor, $50; Benefactor, $100 or more. Please make checks pay-able to “The Friends of the Homosassa Library” and mail to: Friends of the Ho-mosassa Library, P.O. Box 132, Homosassa Springs, FL 34447.

For information, emailreportersr@hotmail.com.

— From staff reports

STATE & LOCALPage A3 - MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE

Around the COUNTY

� Raising Stimulus Checks to $2,000: Voting 275-134, the House on Dec. 28 passed a bill (HR 9051) that would increase the latest round of COVID-19 stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and from $1,200 to $4,000 for couples, plus $600 per child. A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was blocked by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Daniel Webster, No.

� Overriding Trump Veto of Military Budget:

Voting 322-87, the House on Dec. 28 surpassed the two-thirds majority required to override President Trump’s veto of a bill (HR 6395) authorizing $740.5 billion for the U.S. military in fiscal 2021. A yes vote was to override the veto and put the bill into law. Daniel Webster, Yes.

� Joining House in veto override: Voting 81 for and 13 against, the Senate on Jan. 1 joined the House (above) in overriding President Trump’s veto of the

$740.5 billion military budget for fiscal 2021 (HR 6395). This was the first of Trump’s nine vetoes to meet with congressional disapproval. A yes vote was to rebuke Trump and enact the military budget. Marco Rubio, Yes; Rick Scott, Yes.

� Key votes ahead: The 117th Congress reconvened Jan. 3.

© 2021 Thomas Reports Inc. Call: 815-678-4305.

HOW YOUR LAWMAKERS VOTEDKey votes for the week ending Jan. 1 — by Voterama in Congress

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QUESTION: A recent Pew poll found that social trust declines sharply from generation to generation, and that America is becoming a more distrustful place. Overall, can people be trusted?

� A. I think most people can be trusted. (354 votes)

� B. Most people cannot be trusted. (370 votes)

Total votes: 724.

For this week’s online poll question, see Page A1.

ONLINE POLL RESULTS

Associated Press Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, passes out pens used to sign a bill during a signing ceremony at the William J. Kirlew Junior Academy, Thursday, May 9, 2019, in this file photo taken in Miami Gardens. The bill created a new voucher program for thousands of students to attend private and religious schools using taxpayer dollars traditionally spent on public schools. At left is Sen. Manny Diaz Jr.

JOHN HAUGHEYThe Center Square

Florida is committed to invest-ing billions on tax-funded school choice vouchers to pay private school tuition for an ever-widening cadre of eligible K-12 students in the coming years.

Democrats will again attempt in 2021 to impose the same aca-demic and oversight standards that public schools must meet on more than 2,800 private schools attended by 400,000 K-12 students across the state.

Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, has filed 36-page Senate Bill 254, which would do away with “vari-ous inconsistencies in require-ments for the three types of schools in Florida Statute” and replace it with “uniformity among public, private and charter schools.”

Stewart filed a similar bills in 2019 and 2020 that failed to ad-vance in committee. Her 2021 bill has been forwarded to Senate Ed-ucation and Appropriations com-mittees and the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

SB 254 would mandate all in-structors to have at least a

bachelor’s degree and require that private schools meet state guidelines on school construc-tion, academic standards, admin-istering state exams, receiving state grades and requiring at least 20 minutes of recess for primary schools.

Under current Florida law, pri-vate schools establish their own system of school accountability, grading, reporting and evaluating that do not have to meet stan-dards for public schools.

As of July 1, according to the Florida Department of Educa-tion’s (DOE) 2019-20 Private Schools report:

Of 3.274 million PK-12 student enrolled in Florida schools during the 2019-20 school year, 397,970 (12.2%) were private school students and 2,876,042 (87.8%) were public school students.

Compared with the 2018-19 school year, the total number of private schools in 2019-20 in-creased by 132 to 2,812 schools and the total PK-12 enrollment increased by 17,675 students.

Of the 397,970 students enrolled in Florida private schools in 2019-20, 11.3% were enrolled in

prekindergarten, 7.5% in kinder-garten, 34.1% in grades 1-5, 21.5% in grades 6-8, and 25.6% in grades 9-12.

Twenty-five school districts had 10 percent or more of their total PK-12 students enrolled in pri-vate schools in 2019-20.

There were 309,730 K-12 stu-dents enrolled in 658 charter schools operated by contractors under public school supervision statewide.

SB 254 is unlikely to gain trac-tion in the GOP-controlled Legis-lature but Stewart maintains it addresses issues lawmakers must contend with as the state ramps up its school choice program, al-ready the nation’s largest.

“I’m not trying to limit the op-tions alternative choice schools seek to offer, but address the lack of accountability for the sake of all children,” Stewart said.

“Regardless of school choice, there should be qualified instruc-tional personnel, and not substan-dard conditions, which is an irresponsible use of tax dollars, and it’s up to the Legislature to do something about it. We owe this to all the children.”

Of the state’s 397,970 private

school students, 104,000 are at-tending 1,825 private institutions via the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) program, the state’s largest school choice voucher plan.

The FTC is funded by private contributions, mostly from corpo-rations, in exchange for tax cred-its. In 2019, however, with 15,000-plus students on FTC’s waiting list, lawmakers created the Family Empowerment Schol-arship (FES) at Gov. Ron DeSan-tis’ behest.

Under the FES, private school vouchers are funded for the first time directly by the state at 95 % of the full-time equivalent (FTE) allocation for public school stu-dents — $7,250 — with increases capped at a quarter-percent of the state’s K-12 population annu-ally from a base enrollment of 18,000 students.

During the 2020 session, law-makers adopted HB 7067, broad-ening expansion of FES vouchers to 1%.

Under a quarter-percent cap, 7,225 additional students would have been eligible.

At 1%, 28,902 students are eligi-ble, potentially expanding FES to 46,626 students.

Fla. bill seeks to impose uniform standards on private, charter, public schools

MIKE WRIGHTStaff writer

Citrus County commissioners decided in early December to pro-vide CARES Act funding to organi-zations with direct access to those in need.

Faced with a deadline to either spend the money or return it to the U.S. Treasury, commissioners agreed to provide $1 million to the chamber of commerce, $450,000 to United Way and $550,000 to

various nonprofits.In turn, the chamber

will provide funds to busi-nesses struggling to sur-vive during the pandemic and United Way the same for utility and rent or mort-gage payments for citizens.

But to Commissioner Ruthie Davis Schlabach, the criteria for funding nonprofits is too vague. She’s asking commissioners at the

Tuesday, Jan. 5, meeting to set up criteria for pro-viding CARES funds to nonprofits.

“We still don’t have this resolved,” she said in an interview. “The money is just sitting there.”

Schlabach, in her agenda memo, suggests several possible criteria, including:

� Should the funds be limited to secular organizations?

� Are nonprofits that sell alco-hol eligible?

� What is the maximum award per group and how is that based?

� Are nonprofits that received prior CARES funds eligible?

� What should be the specific use of the funds?

County commissioners meet at1 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse, 110 N. Apopka Ave., Inverness. A9 a.m. workshop on updating the comprehensive plan will precede the regular meeting.

Schlabach: CARES criteria needed for nonprofits

Ruthie DavisSchlabach

county commissioner.

State still vexed about vouchers

Birthday — Take an innovative ap-proach to work, money, health and legal matters. You are overdue for a change. Refuse to get bogged down with matters that aren’t your responsibility. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Un-necessary purchases will leave you short of cash. A joint venture will not turn out as planned. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Do more research before making a change that can affect your income or a partnership. You can protect yourself from being taken advantage of emo-tionally and financially. Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20) — Trying to please others by taking on additional responsibilities will leave you tired and unable to take care of your duties. Don’t jeopardize your health.Aries (March 21-April 19) — Put your health and emotional well-being first. Chase your dreams instead of taking on someone’s obligations. Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Your de-sire for change will leave loved ones feeling uncertain. Rely on your gut feeling when making a decision. Gemini (May 21-June 20) — Be wary of favors and compliments from some-one likely to have ulterior motives. Get to the point, and find out what others want or expect from you. Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Move things around at home to accommo-date your needs. You’ll come up with a great way to be more efficient and successful. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) — Think big, but stick to the basics. Share your vi-sion, but stick to your budget. You can always add the bells and whistles at a later date. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Change begins with you. Delve into whatever interests you and see where it leads. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) — It’s your prerogative to change your mind or try something new. Do your best, forge ahead and pursue your dream.Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) — Slow down, observe what’s going on around you and consider how best to use a sit-uation to get ahead. Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) — You’ve got more options than you think. Refuse to let anyone interfere with your plans. Be willing to do the work yourself.

Today’s HOROSCOPES

Today is Monday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2021. There are 361 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight: On Jan. 4, 1935, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for leg-islation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished chil-dren and the handicapped.

On this date: In 1944, Ralph Bunche became

the first African-American officer at the State Department as he was appointed to a post in the Near East and African Section.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape record-ings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

In 1999, Europe’s new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets.

In 2002, Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a U.S. Army Spe-cial Forces soldier, was killed by small-arms fire during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan; he was the first American military death from enemy fire in the war against terrorism.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama signed a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation’s food safety system.

Five years ago: Workers re-turned to their offices at the San Bernardino, California campus where 14 people were killed the previous month in a terror attack carried out by a county restaurant inspector and his wife.

One year ago: Australia’s prime minister said the death toll in the worst wildfire season in Australian history had climbed to 23, including a father and son who had been bat-tling flames for two days.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dyan Cannon is 82. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 66. Actor Julia Ormond is 56. MLB All-Star Kris Bryant is 29.

Today in HISTORY

HI / LO PR

H / LO

YTD

PR

HI / LO PR

HI / LO PR

YESTERDAY’S WEATHER

THREE DAY OU T LOOK Exclusi

Legend: YTD-Year toDate, PR-Daily Precipitation

ve daily forecast by:

DEW POINT

HUMIDITY

POLLEN COUNT**

**Light - only extreme allergic will show symp-toms, moderate - most allergic will experience symptoms, heavy - all allergic will experience symptoms.AIR QUALITY

ALM A N A C

CE L EST I A L OU T LOOK

WATER ING R UL ES

B U R N CON D I T ION S

For more information call Florida Division of Forestry at (352) 797-4140. For more information on wildfire conditions, please visit the Division of Forestryʼs Web site: www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Florida-Forest-Service/Wildland-Fire

Today’s Fire Danger Index is:

City H L F’cast City H L F’cast

F LO R I DA TE M PERAT U RES

Gulf watertemperature

LA K E L E V E L S Location Full

Levels reported in feet above sea level. Flood stage for lakes are based on 2.33-year flood, the mean-annual flood which has a 43-precent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any one year. This data is obtained from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and is subject to revision. In no event will the District or the United States Geological Survey be liable for any damages arising out of the use of this data. If you have any questions you should contact the Hydrological Data Section at (352) 796-7211.

M AR IN E OU T LOOK

Taken at Aripeka

T HE N AT ION

YESTERDAY’S NATIONAL HIGH & LOW

HIGH

LOW

CITY H/L/SKY

W O R L D CI T I ES

City H L Pcp. H L City

C ity High Low

T I DES *From mouths of rivers **At Kingʼs Bay ***At Masonʼs Creek

S OLUN AR TAB L ES DATE DAY MINOR MAJOR MINOR MAJOR

HI / LO PR

SUNSET TONIGHT ...........................

SUNRISE TOMORROW ....................

MOONRISE TODAY .........................

MOONSET TODAY ..........................

Fcst H L Pcp. H L Fcst

(MORNING) (AFTERNOON)

TEMPERATURE*

RecordNormalMean temp.Departure from meanPRECIPITATION*

Total for the monthTotal for the yearNormal for the year

UV INDEX:0-2 minimal, 3-4 low, 5-6 moderate,7-9 high, 10+ very highBAROMETRIC PRESSURE

*

**Official record values from Tampa International

Data fromCrystal River Airport

Provided byezfshn.com

Taken at Crystal River

40s10s 90s80s70s60s50s 100s 110s0s 20s 30s

H

H

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY MORNINGHigh: 65° Low: 44°Mostly sunny, light winds, cool

Yesterday 0.02"0.02"0.02"0.26"

30.03

Yesterday at 3 p.m. 57%

Yesterday observed GoodPollutant Ozone

Jan 6 Jan 13 Jan 20 Jan 28

0 - 1 Monday 6 - 7 Thursday2 - 3 Tuesday 8 - 9 -or-

Common Areas Friday4 - 5 Wednesday

Daytona Bch. 65 46 sFort Lauderdale 75 56 pcFort Myers 71 47 sGainesville 64 40 sHomestead 76 53 mcJacksonville 64 42 sKey West 74 64 mcLakeland 68 44 sMelbourne 68 49 s

SUN MON

Albany 34 28 0.08 37 29 ssAlbuquerque 48 27 0.00 53 27 pcAsheville 50 39 0.00 49 34 sAtlanta 54 41 0.00 55 40 sAtlantic City 48 35 0.31 45 36 shAustin 70 32 0.00 71 40 sBaltimore 43 37 0.18 44 33 mcBillings 48 32 0.00 49 33 pcBirmingham 54 39 0.00 59 38 pcBoise 50 37 0.29 48 32 raBoston 36 28 0.01 40 30 rsBuffalo 37 32 0.02 36 31 clBurlington, VT 32 28 0.00 35 27 mcCharleston, SC 71 53 0.19 59 42 sCharleston, WV 45 39 0.10 43 31 mcCharlotte 61 50 0.08 52 34 sChicago 34 30 0.05 33 27 mcCincinnati 41 37 0.02 41 32 mcCleveland 39 37 0.04 37 32 clColumbia, SC 61 52 0.85 57 38 sColumbus, OH 39 36 0.08 38 30 mcConcord, NH 30 19 0.00 36 25 snDallas 64 36 0.00 62 35 sDenver 54 25 0.00 53 29 pcDes Moines 34 9 0.00 36 18 mcDetroit 36 34 0.17 35 28 clEl Paso 61 27 0.00 62 38 sEvansville, IN 43 36 Trace 49 32 mcHarrisburg 36 28 0.30 41 30 mcHartford 34 25 0.05 41 27 mcHouston 70 36 0.00 70 45 sIndianapolis 36 34 Trace 39 29 clKansas City 36 19 0.00 43 24 mcLas Vegas 57 37 0.00 62 40 pcLittle Rock 57 27 0.00 55 31 pcLos Angeles 61 48 0.00 64 48 pcLouisville 41 39 0.00 48 35 mcMemphis 70 34 0.01 54 33 pcMilwaukee 36 27 0.00 32 26 clMinneapolis 36 12 0.00 37 17 pcMobile 61 37 0.00 63 42 sMontgomery 55 43 0.00 61 39 sNashville 50 37 0.05 54 36 mc

SUN

Acapulco 94/69/sAmsterdam 38/37/raAthens 61/55/raBeijing 27/20/mcBerlin 36/34/rsBermuda 71/69/raCairo 74/58/sCalgary 26/17/mcHavana 78/69/pcHong Kong 65/61/mcJerusalem 62/51/s

71/61 Trace67/61 0.10"

62/60 0.10"

69/55 0.10"

66/58 0.10"0.10"

SUN SATWithlacoochee at Holder 28.94 28.99 34.64Tsala Apopka-Hernando 37.65 37.66 38.66Tsala Apopka-Inverness 38.88 38.89 39.73Tsala Apopka-Floral City 40.09 40.09 41.37

Lisbon 52/46/raLondon 40/37/raMadrid 42/32/pcMexico City 71/55/sMontreal 29/21/clMoscow 31/24/clParis 37/35/snRio 85/74/raRome 52/44/raSydney 79/68/raTokyo 49/39/mcToronto 33/28/mcWarsaw 38/34/cl

SUN MON

New Orleans 55 46 0.00 65 47 sNew York City 39 36 0.12 43 35 mcNorfolk 54 46 0.81 47 36 mcOklahoma City 41 28 0.00 52 30 sOmaha 36 14 0.00 39 19 pcPalm Springs 70 46 0.00 69 49 pcPhiladelphia 39 36 0.17 45 35 mcPhoenix 64 39 0.00 69 44 sPittsburgh 39 36 0.39 36 31 clPortland, ME 30 21 0.00 35 30 snPortland, OR 54 43 0.68 51 40 raProvidence, RI 37 30 Trace 40 29 raRaleigh 55 48 1.52 49 33 pcRapid City 50 21 0.00 51 31 sReno 54 39 0.00 54 23 raRochester, NY 36 32 0.06 37 31 clSacramento 57 46 0.00 57 40 shSalt Lake City 36 24 0.03 45 33 mcSan Antonio 68 28 0.00 74 46 sSan Diego 64 46 0.00 61 47 mcSan Francisco 54 48 0.00 59 46 raSavannah 68 54 0.15 60 41 sSeattle 48 37 1.14 50 42 raSpokane 46 39 0.18 42 32 raSt. Louis 39 30 0.00 45 28 mcSt. Ste Marie 32 30 0.00 35 30 fgSyracuse 36 27 0.11 38 31 rsTopeka 39 16 0.00 47 24 pcWashington 45 39 0.26 45 33 mc

Miami 75 59 mcOcala 66 40 sOrlando 68 45 sPensacola 62 45 sSarasota 68 47 sTallahassee 61 41 sTampa 66 48 sVero Beach 69 49 sW. Palm Bch. 71 58 pc

Chassahowitzka*9:44 a.m. 0.6 ft 10:26 p.m. 0.3 ft 2:09 a.m. 0.1 ft 5:54 p.m. 0.1 ftCrystal River** 7:49 a.m. 2.2 ft 8:51 p.m. 1.8 ft 1:52 a.m. 0.7 ft 2:55 p.m. 0.2 ftWithlacoochee* 4:38 a.m. 3.0 ft 5:56 p.m. 2.6 ft 12:22 p.m. -0.3 ft None n/aHomosassa*** 8:18 a.m. 1.4 ft 9:25 p.m. 0.8 ft 2:28 a.m. 0.3 ft 4:14 p.m. 0.1 ft

5:45 pm7:23 am

11:24 pm11:28 am

01/04 MONDAY 7:23 4:58 5:45 5:2301/05 TUESDAY 7:23 5:47 5:46 6:11

Predominant: TreesMon

low med high

Yesterday at 3 p.m. 53°

4

Yesterday 71/5885/2670/42

569

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY MORNINGHigh: 66° Low: 39°Mostly sunny, light winds, cool

TODAY & TOMORROW MORNINGHigh: 64° Low: 39°Mostly sunny, light winds, cool

LOW. There is no burn ban.

For established lawns and landscapes, irrigation may occur during only one (1) of the specified time periods, 12:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m., or 4:00 p.m. - 11:59 p.m., on the allowable watering days below:

Addresses with house numbers ending in:

Questions, concerns or reporting violations, please call: City of Inverness at 352-726-2321; City of Crystal River at 352-795-4216, Ext. 313; unincorporated Citrus County at 352-527-7669. For more information, visit:https://www.citrusbocc.com/departments/water_resources/watering_restrictions.php

MONDAYKEY TO CONDITIONS: c=cloudy; fg=fog; hz=haze; mc=mostly cloudy; pc=partly cloudy; ra=rain; rs=rain/snow; s=sunny; sh=showers; sm=smoke; sn=snow; ss=snow showers; t=thunderstorms

84, Miami, Fla.-13, Gunnison, Colo.

Today: North winds around 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Bay and inland waters a light chop. Tonight: North winds around 10 knots. Seas 2 feet. Bay and inland waters a light chop. 67°

FORECAST FOR 3:00 P.M.Monday

Today’s active pollen:juniper, maple, oak

Today’s count: 8.3/12Tuesday’s count: 7.9

Wednesday’s count: 7.8

ENTERTAINMENTTalk show host Larry King has COVID-19 LOS ANGELES — Former

CNN talk show host Larry King has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for more than a week, the news channel reported Saturday.

Citing an unidentified person close to the family, CNN said the 87-year-old King is undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medi-cal Center in Los Angeles.

Hospital protocols have kept King’s family members from vis-iting him.

The Peabody Award-winning broadcaster was among Ameri-ca’s most prominent interviewers of celebrities, presidents and other newsmakers during a half-century career that included 25 years with a nightly show on CNN.

He has had medical issues in recent decades, including heart attacks and diagnoses of diabe-tes and lung cancer.

Last year, King lost two of his five children within weeks of each other. Son Andy King died of a heart attack at 65 in August, and daughter Chaia King died from lung cancer at 51 in July, Larry King said then in a statement.

IRS: Prince estate undervalued by 50%

MINNEAPOLIS — The ongo-ing controversy over the money left behind by Prince when he died without a will is heating up again after Internal Revenue Service calculations showed that executors of the rock star’s es-tate undervalued it by 50%, or about $80 million.

The IRS determined that Prince’s estate is worth $163.2 million, overshadowing the $82.3 million valuation submitted by

Comerica Bank & Trust, the es-tate’s administrator. The discrep-ancy primarily involves Prince’s music publishing and recording interests, according to court documents.

Documents show the IRS be-lieves that Prince’s estate owes another $32.4 million in federal taxes, roughly doubling the tax bill based on Comerica’s valua-tion, the Star Tribune reported.

The IRS also has ordered a $6.4 million “accuracy-related penalty” on Prince’s estate, citing a “substantial” undervaluation of assets, documents show.

Prince’s death of a fentanyl overdose on April 21, 2016, cre-ated one of the largest and most complicated probate court pro-ceedings in Minnesota history. Estimates of his net worth have varied widely, from $100 million to $300 million.

With Prince’s probate case dragging on, his six sibling heirs have grown increasingly un-happy, particularly as the estate has doled out tens of millions of dollars to lawyers and consultants.

Comerica and its lawyers at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneap-olis maintain their estate valua-tions are solid. Comerica sued the IRS this summer in U.S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C., say-ing the agency’s calculations are riddled with errors.

Comerica, a Dallas-based fi-nancial services giant, has asked the tax court to hold a trial in St. Paul.

A trial could dramatically lengthen the settlement of Prince’s estate and generate more legal fees at the expense of Prince’s heirs.

— From wire reports

Associated PressIn this Nov. 20, 2017, file photo, Larry King attends the 45th International Emmy Awards at the New York Hilton, in New York. Former CNN talk show host King has been hospitalized with COVID-19 for more than a week, the news channel reported Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. CNN reported the 87-year-old King contracted the coronavirus and was undergoing treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

A4 MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021 CITRUS COUNTY (FL) CHRONICLE

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OPINIONPage A5 - MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021

VA not what it used to beI’m just one of many DAV

veterans from the Korean War. I served from 1953 to 1955; I was just 19 years old when I was called to fight in the war. They told me I was needed to save the USA.

In 1954, I found myself in need of help. I had been hurt in both legs, but I was incred-ibly lucky to have great doc-tors and nurses who took care of me. Then I was state-side. I received my honor-able release from active duty in 1955.

After reaching the good old USA, I was introduced to the VA. Again, I was lucky to find such excellent care, great care, I even got my electric scooter from them.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that about them now.

I’m not talking about the workers, they do what they can. I’m talking about the ones at the top, the very top. I believe they should be run out of the USA.

If you agree or disagree, that’s your choice. Maybe I’m the only one who feels that way, I doubt it, but I would like a fair count.

If you agree or disagree, I am including my mailing ad-dress to get a response. I will mail it where it needs to go. You don’t have to put your name and address, just first name, city and state, unless you want me to respond to you. P.O. Box 135, Hernando, FL 34441.

Don Chenoweth Sr.Hernando

Donations paid for X-ray machine

Our dream became a real-ity with the arrival of the X-ray machine for the ani-mal shelter!

There was a huge unmet need for patient care and the thought of fundraising

for the $76,000 was daunting to say the least. But with ev-eryone’s help we got it done! Enough money came in that we were able to purchase the X-ray machine, the leaded aprons and a few accessories.

The first patient to be X-rayed was a 144-pound Lab that has trouble walking and significant hematuria. Loading her up into a van and dropping her off at a vet office to be X-rayed would have been a hardship for her.

This way she was X-rayed by people she already knew and in a place that she is al-ready familiar with. She didn’t need to struggle in and out of a van and wait in a vet office kennel for when they could work her in.

My heart is happy because what we as a community did for the animal shelter will have a significant impact for many years to come.

Together we made a huge impact on the quality of life and the quality of care the

medical staff can provide at the shelter.

Thank you, Christine Marino (Chronicle commu-nity news coordinator), you played a huge part in our success and for that we are forever grateful!

Wanda MoakPresident, Citrus County

Foundation for Animal Protection

Biden is president-elect, like it or notThis year, more than any

other, we have experienced climaxes, problems and challenges to our usual American way of life.

The political climate has gone rancorous and bitter up to the Nov. 3 national elec-tion, and even afterward, than at any time in my over 80 years on this planet. So, where does it get us? Really!

Like it or not, Joe Biden is to be our new president of these United States of Amer-ica come Jan. 20, 2021.

That is the way it is, so live with it. More than that, and far more importantly, God is still on his throne and he rules. Period.

If God didn’t want Joe Biden in the White House, come Jan. 20, God wouldn’t have allowed Joe Biden to be elected the new presi-dent. That is the way it is. Period.

So, let’s live with it. Is that the end of the story? No, probably not. There is more to be told. Do I know what it will be? No, I do not. I’m trusting God, who loves me and cares for me, to do his will, his way, with his wis-dom, and in his time.

My humble advice and opinion is that we all do the same. In his name, the name above all names, Jesus, the living Christ.

Fred A. StockFloral City

“ “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

X-RAY VISION

Nonprofit’s fundraiser win for our

animalsIn a pandemic where it’s been at times difficult to see life’s miracles, the Citrus County Foundation for Animal Protection (CCFAP) came through the finish line of 2020 with some-thing extraordinary for the benefit of homeless animals in Citrus County.

The volunteer driven ani-mal advocacy group pled to the Citrus community to fund the purchase of a digi-tal X-ray machine for Citrus County Animal Services (CCAS), and in just a handful of months was able to raise more than $76,000 to install the ma-chine at the county shelter to treat injured ani-mals without off-site visits.

That’s an in-credible feat for the small group whose passion for animal care is gargantuan, and seemingly conta-gious to animal supporters across Citrus. The CCFAP even exceeded their fundraising goal for the X-ray machine, and was also able to purchase accessories used with the machine, like aluminum aprons.

The new state-of-the-art machine lessens the suffer-ing for shelter pets in need of care, allowing them to re-ceive diagnostic work onsite instead of being transferred away from the shelter facil-ity. The previous transfers stressed the animal patients and delayed the care of those who were critical; now vul-nerable animals can get the

X-rays they need without delay, and without the cost offsite care, of which previ-ously a shelter veterinarian had to prioritize for select pets in the shelter budget.

X-rays, according to a re-cent news release announc-ing the first use of the machine (Monday, Dec. 28, page A3), are also crucial in evidence collection for ani-mal cruelty cases. The new shelter machine will help

ensure that jus-tice is served for helpless animals in Citrus County.

Shelter staff members were able to treat four animals within in the first day of in-stallation, and will treat many more injured creatures in the years to come.

Overall, the fundraising ef-forts of CCFAP and the contribu-tions from gener-o u s C i t r u s citizens have re-sulted in an ex-

traordinary win for the local shelter, whose budget is often restricted to only the bare necessities.

Care for animals in Citrus is improved greatly by the ef-forts of CCFAP, community champions for homeless pets in need.

The CCFAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to provide help for the homeless and abandoned animals of Citrus County that end up at CCAS.

For more information about the CCFAP and the services they provide, visit www.ccfap.net.

THE ISSUE:Animal Services

gains digital X-ray machine thanks to local animal

advocacy group.

OUR OPINION:Citrus County Foundation for

Animal Protection (CCFAP)

volunteers are community

champions for animal care in

Citrus.

LETTERS to the EditorOPINIONS INVITED

� Viewpoints depicted in political cartoons, columns or letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial board.

� Groups or individuals are invited to express their opinions in a letter to the editor.

� Persons wishing to address the editorial board, which meets weekly, should call Jeff Bryan at 352-563-5660.

� All letters must be signed and include a phone number and hometown, including letters sent via email. Names and hometowns will be printed; phone numbers will not be published or given out.

� We reserve the right to edit letters for length, libel, fairness and good taste.

� Letters must be no longer than 400 words, and writers will be limited to four letters per month.

� SEND LETTERS TO: The Editor, 1624 N. Meadowcrest Blvd., Crystal River, FL 34429; or email to letters@chronicle online.com.

The Grinch strikes my budgetMerry Grinchmas. During the pan-

demic, our rent was upped $90 on our lot and the swamp behind us is still there. Mr. Kitchen knows all about it. Merry Grinchmas.

Medians look like trash cansRecently somebody called in the

Sound Off saying that the prisoners should be out cleaning up the highways. I totally agree with that person. I just came from Inverness over to Crystal River and it looks like a trashcan, just a dump all over the median. It is terrible. Why can’t these prisoners — instead of

playing basketball and sitting in their dorms getting free meals — go out every day and clean up that highway? I go up (County Road) 486 by Citrus Hills and it’s spotless. Even the grass is greener up there. Why is it that the state has that grass green, but down here by the dump and on

(State Road) 44, it’s brown, burnt-out and trashy-looking? That’s the main drag people come in here when they’re com-ing in off the turnpike into (S.R.) 44 off

of I-75 and I-95 and cutting across. This is a shame that Crystal River, the Nature Coast, is such a trashcan. Get these pris-oners off their butts and get them out there.

Find out who owns the trashIn reference to the ongoing problem

with litter and trash along our roadways: It has come to my attention that if peo-ple take the time and try to discover whose trash it is by mail or by informa-tion that may be amongst the trash and hand it to the sheriff’s department or in-form the sheriff’s department, they may find the people that are responsible and certainly take the matter into legal

hands. So anyway, once again, let’s be diligent about the trash along the side of the roads.

Keep right, except to passI’d like to kind of place this (Sound

Off) to the drivers that are unaware of the common rule of keeping right except to pass. It seems like the minute they pull out of a side street onto (U.S.) 19, they try to get out in that left lane until they’re going to make a left turn in Perry, Florida, and the truck drivers are the ab-solute worst here. As a retired driver of over 50 years cross country, I look at these guys driving down here and they make me sick.

THE CHRONICLE invites you to call “Sound Off” with your opinions about local subjects. You do not need to leave your name, and have less than a minute to record. COMMENTS will be edited for length, libel, personal or political attacks and good taste. Editors will cut libelous material. OPINIONS expressed are purely those of the callers.

CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE

SOUND OFF

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563-0579

CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE

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E D I T O R I A L B O A R DGerry Mulligan .......................................... publisherCurt Ebitz ........................................citizen memberMac Harris .......................................citizen memberRebecca Martin ..............................citizen memberJeff Bryan .......................................managing editorBrian LaPeter ................. assistant managing editorGwen Bittner ......... assistant managing editor, desk

The opinions expressed in Chronicle editorials are the opinions of the newspaper’s editorial board.

new year dawns. We start to evaluate our behavior over the past 12 months. Were we grumps, every little inconvenience or

mishap a cause to pass judgment on humankind? Those speeders! Look at all the trash along the highway! People are just plain lazy. That kid holding up a sign “Homeless. Please help.” Bet he never worked a day in his life.

Or did compassion get factored into how we viewed others? Understand-ing that many families faced hard-ships like never before. Unemployment ranks swelling with individuals who had always been con-scientious about paying their bills on time. Many balancing two or three jobs to make ends meet. Now losing those jobs as their employers have been forced to cut staff or close down altogether.

I confess to vacillating more than once between grumpiness and com-passion over the politicization of health-related matters that are meant for our general welfare. Seatbelts, though a bodily restriction, have saved countless lives, al-though met with disparagment when first en-acted as a federal law back on Jan. 1, 1968.

Fast forward to 2020, during which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been advising us to wear masks when in the public arena and to socially distance like our lives depended upon it. Because they do, given that the coronavirus is transmitted through the air. The air we used to inhale and exhale without a second thought. Now camouflaged through filtered masks to pro-tect ourselves, friends and family, as well as strangers in our midst.

After having hand surgery back in November, I have had to hire a driver to make numerous

trips back and forth to Shands in Gainesville. The driver and I both have worn masks through-out the hour and a half commute each way. While at Shands, myself and everyone else I have en-countered, from patients to staff, wear masks, as well as exercise diligent hygiene. All equipment is sterilized. Hand sanitizers are everywhere. Do

I get uncomfortable after what can amount to a six hour stretch of mask wearing? You bet. By the time I get home. I am ready to rip the mask off and fling it anywhere it happens to land. So, I concede I might be guilty of some degree of grumpiness at this point.

I understand we are all weary from all the repercussions attached to this pandemic. We want to say, to heck with it. But with a new year looming, and the promise of more than one vaccine eventually being made avail-able to all of us, now is the time for our better natures to emerge.

Letting our guard down, or ignoring science, can negatively impact everyone. In this case, we are as strong or healthy as our weakest link.

Let’s prove collectively that compassion will fortify us to greet the new year with a firm re-solve to think about others’ safety, as well as our own. By adhering to CDC guidelines, we can gen-uinely wish everyone a happier and healthier new year!

Lynne Farrell Abrams has a bachelor’s degree in communication. She has been a writer and editor, an adult education writing teacher, and a sub-stance abuse counselor. A resident of Citrus County for over 10 years, Lynne is now happily retired.

Happier, healthier new year

Lynne Farrell AbramsGUEST

COLUMN

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A

UK warned of more lockdown

measuresLONDON — British

Prime Minister Boris John-son warned Sunday that more onerous lockdown re-strictions in England are likely as the country reels from a new coronavirus variant that has pushed in-fection rates to their highest recorded levels.

Johnson, though, insisted he has “no doubt” that schools are safe and urged parents to send their chil-dren back into the class-room in areas of England where they can. Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the new variant, which scientists have said is up to 70% more contagious.

The U.K. is in the midst of an acute outbreak, re-cording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past five days. On Saturday, it notched a daily record of 57,725 new cases. The country, with nearly 75,000 virus-related deaths, is al-ternating with Italy as the worst-hit European nation, according to figures com-piled by Johns Hopkins University.

“We are entirely recon-ciled to do what it takes to get the virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks ahead,“ Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “Obviously there are a range of tougher measures that we would have to consider.”

Tibetans in exile vote in India for political leaderDHARMSALA, India —

Hundreds of Tibetans in exile braved the rain and cold Sunday in India’s northern city of Dharmsala, where the exiled govern-ment is based, and voted for their new political leader as the current officeholder’s five-year term nears its end.

The voters wore masks, maintained social distance and used hand sanitizer as they cast their ballots during the first round of the election.

In this first phase of vot-ing, two candidates for the top government post of president will be shortlisted, including 90 parliamentari-ans. The second and final round of voting will take place in April.

“By this we are sending a clear message to Beijing that Tibet is under occupa-tion but Tibetans in exile are free. And given a chance, an opportunity, we prefer democracy,” said Lobsang Sangay, who will soon be finishing his second and final term as the Tibetan po-litical leader.

Formed in 1959, Tibet’s government-in-exile — now called the Central Tibetan Administration — has exec-utive, judiciary and legisla-tive branches, with candidates for the office of president elected since 2011 by popular vote.

Georgia’s certified elec-tion results show Biden won the state’s Nov. 3 elec-tion by 11,779 votes.

The White House re-ferred questions to Trump’s reelection cam-paign, which did not re-spond Sunday to an emailed request for com-ment. Raffensperger’s of-fice did not respond to a text message seeking comment.

Biden senior adviser Bob Bauer said the record-ing was “irrefutable proof” of Trump pressuring and threatening an official in his own party to “rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.”

“It captures the whole, disgraceful story about Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy,” Bauer said.

At another point in the conversation, Trump

appeared to threaten Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, by suggesting both could be criminally liable if they failed to find that thou-sands of ballots in Fulton County had been illegally destroyed. There is no evi-dence to support Trump’s claim.

“That’s a criminal of-fense,” Trump says. “And you can’t let that happen.

Trump has repeatedly attacked how Raffen-sperger ran Georgia’s elec-tions, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral votes were wrongly given to Biden.

“He has no clue!” Trump tweeted of Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions about a series of claims about ballot handling and voters that have been debunked or shot down by judges and election authorities.

Raffensperger’s Twitter response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What

you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

There was no wide-spread fraud in the elec-tion, which a range of election officials across the country, as well as Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have con-firmed. Republican gover-nors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden’s victory, have also vouched for the integrity of the elec-tions in their states. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes t h r e e T r u m p - nominated justices.

The Senate runoffs pit Sen. Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael War-nock and Sen. David Per-due against Democrat Jon Ossoff. With the Senate up for grabs, the candidates and outside groups sup-porting them have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the contests.

Associated PressAn exiled Tibetan Buddhist nun moves her cap to allow her body temperature be taken as a precaution against the coronavirus before voting in Dharmsala, India, Sunday, Jan. 3.

— From wire reports

World NEWS

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- The Ledgers - 20202020

VOTESContinued from Page A1

ALAN FRAMAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — Nancy Pe-losi was narrowly reelected Sun-day as speaker, giving her the reins of Democrats’ slender House majority as President-elect Joe Biden sets a challenging course of producing legislation to tackle the pandemic, revive the economy and address other party priorities.

The California Democrat, who has led her party in the House since 2003 and is the only woman to be speaker, had been widely expected to retain her post. Pe-losi received 216 votes to 209 for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who again will be the chamber’s minority leader.

To gain her victory, Pelosi had to overcome some Democratic grumbling about her longevity, a slim 222-211 edge over Republi-cans after November’s elections and a handful of absences be-cause of the coronavirus. There were two vacancies in the 435-member House, and what-ever happens Democrats will have the smallest House majority in two decades.

Democrats gave Pelosi a stand-ing ovation as the final tally was

annnounced, while the Republi-can side of the chamber was nearly empty.

The new Congress convened Sunday, just two days after

lawmakers ended their conten-tious previous session and with COVID-19 guidelines requiring testing and face coverings for House members. There was

widespread mask-wearing and far fewer lawmakers and guests in the chamber than usual, an un-imaginable tableau when the last Congress commenced two years ago, before the pandemic struck.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., formally nominated Pelosi for the job, calling her “a notorious nego-tiator and a legendary legislator for such a time as this.”

Jeffries, a member of House leadership who’s expected to contend for the speakership whenever Pelosi steps aside, said that as Pelosi prepares to work with Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, “Brighter days are ahead in the United States of America. This is the day of great renewal in the House of Representatives.”

To be reelected, Pelosi needed a majority of votes cast for spe-cific candidates and could afford to lose only a handful of Demo-cratic votes. House rules give her a bit of wiggle room because law-makers who are absent or who vote “present” are not counted in the total number of those voting.

Sunday’s vote lasted just over two-and-a-half hours, an unusu-ally long time, as lawmakers voted in groups of around 72 each to minimize exposure to the virus.

In for a fourth termDemocrat Nancy Pelosi narrowly reelected speaker, faces difficult 2021

Associated PressHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California speaks to the media Wednesday Dec. 30, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD AND ZEINA KARAM

Associated Press

BAGHDAD — Chanting anti- American slogans, thousands of Iraqis converged on a landmark square in central Baghdad on Sunday to commemorate the an-niversary of the killing of a pow-erful Iranian general and a top Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike.

Roads leading to Tahrir Square were closed off and security was tight as the crowds gathered in response to a call by powerful Iran-backed militias for a rally marking the occasion and de-manding the expulsion of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“No, no to America!” shouted some in the largely mask-less crowd. “You killed our guest. There is no place here for your embassy,” read some of the banners.

Protesters at one point set fire to a large U.S. flag, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The killing of Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mu-handis at Baghdad’s airport pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to all-out conflict and sparked outrage in Iraq, leading parliament to pass a non-binding resolution days later

calling for the expulsion of all foreign troops from Iraq.

Sunday’s rally was being held amid heightened tensions be-tween Iran and the U.S. in the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Already, America has con-ducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf over what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the anniversary of the strike that killed Soleimani and al-Muhandis.

Carrying Iraqi and militia flags and posters of the two men,

thousands of Iraqis marched to-ward Tahrir Square for the rally Sunday, demanding the with-drawal of U.S. troops in imple-mentation of the parliamentary resolution. The event was orga-nized by mostly Iran-backed mili-tias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

“We call upon the government and the parliament to expel the occupying foreign forces, espe-cially the brutal American forces, the infidels, the immorals, who killed the heroes and leaders of victory,” said Muhammad Shubr al-Husseini, a protester.

Abbas Ali, a 27-year-old

protester carrying a poster of Soleimani, said he was there be-cause it was a day “to remember those who sacrificed their souls for Iraq.”

Soleimani headed the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolution-ary Guard, responsible for the Islamic Republic’s foreign opera-tions, and he frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Al-Muhandis was Iraq’s most powerful militia leader and was deputy commander of the PMF.

They both gained prominence for advising Shiite paramilitary forces fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq, before it was de-feated in 2017.

Their killing dramatically rat-cheted up tensions in the region and brought the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war. Iran hit back by firing a barrage of ballistic mis-siles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, resulting in brain concussion injuries to dozens of them. Iranian officials have sug-gested that more retaliation is coming.

On Saturday night, thousands of people took part in a commem-oration ceremony held at Bagh-dad’s airport where the strike took place a year ago.

Mourners, many of them mem-bers of the PMF, joined a march on the highway leading to the air-port. Posters of the dead men adorned both sides of the road, which was lined with tents that served food and drinks for those who walked the highway.

Rally marks 1 year since Iran general’s killing

Associated PressA supporter of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, holds a photo of him during a protest in Tahrir Square, Iraq, Sunday, Jan. 3.

Anti-American tensions mount

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SPORTSSection B - MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE

The Number: 10Interceptions for Xavien Howard, tying Miami’s single-season record and making him the first with 10 in the NFL since 2007.

Xavien Howard

Positive momentum

FRED GOODALL AP sports writer

TAMPA — Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are heating up at the right time. Hardly surprising where Brady is concerned.

The six-time Super Bowl champion threw for 399 yards and four touch-downs Sunday, helping the playoff- bound Bucs clinch the fifth seed in the NFC with a 44-27 regular season-ending win over the Atlanta Falcons.

But the team’s fourth straight vic-tory, which means the Bucs (11-5) will face the NFC East champion, Wash-ington or the New York Giants, on the road in the club’s first postseason game in 13 years, may have come with a steep cost.

Star receiver Mike Evans was carted to the locker room with a left knee injury late in the first quarter and did not return.

Evans was hurt one play after a

20-yard reception made him the first player in NFL history to begin a ca-reer with seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He went down try-ing to make a catch in the end zone and was carted to the locker room after first trying to walk off with assis-tance from a trainer.

“It meant the world for him to get that record and, then, to have an easy touchdown,” Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. “The turf was really slick in the end zone. It was just a freaky thing. Knock on wood, we don’t think there is any serious damage, but we will know more in the next 24 hours.”

Brady threw touchdown passes of 29 and 4 yards to Chris Godwin. The 43-year-old quarterback also teamed with Antonio Brown on scoring plays of 25 and 30 yards to finish with a franchise-record 40 in his first season with the Bucs.

Brady joined Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Dan Ma-rino as the only players with multiple

seasons of at least 40 TD passes. Rod-gers has done it three times, the oth-ers twice.

Now it’s on to the playoffs, where Tampa Bay hasn’t appeared since 2007.

“It’s about one football game, who plays well, who executes when the pressure is on,” said Brady, who’s thrown for at least two touchdowns in seven consecutive games.

He shrugged off a question about whether he imagined he might be able to throw for 40 touchdowns in his first season with a new team, especially considering the absence of a normal offseason due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Whatever happens for me as a quarterback is reflective of what we do as an offense,” Brady said. “I love playing with the guys I play with. We’ve got a great group of receivers, a great group of tight ends, very selfless. The backs have done an incredible job, and the offensive line has been

playing great.”Matt Ryan completed 29 of 44 passes

for 265 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons (4-12), who finished a dis-tressing season that claimed the jobs of former coach Dan Quinn and gen-eral manager Thomas Dimitroff after an 0-5 start.

Ryan scored on a 1-yard sneak and also threw scoring passes of 19 yards to Russell Gage and 1 yard to Hayden Hurst. The latter trimmed Atlanta’s deficit to 30-27 before Brady put the game away with two late drives.

Interim coach Raheem Morris took over Oct. 12 and went 4-7. He inter-viewed for the full-time position last Friday and would like to return.

“I love this football team. I love this city. I love this organization, and I love the owner, and I love the players,” Morris said. “These guys are not far away. They’ve got a chance. ... They’re that close. We’ve got to find a way to

Associated PressTampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) calls a play against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of a game Sunday, in Tampa.

Brady throws for 4 TDs, Bucs pull away from Falcons, 44-27, to cap off regular season

See BUCS/Page B3

Bills eliminate DolphinsBuffalo dominates in 56-26 blowout

JOHN WAWROW AP sports writer

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were intent on not easing into the playoffs, while ending the Miami Dolphins’ chances.

In a season-ending game in which the Dolphins had far more riding on the outcome, the Bills put an empathic stamp on their breakthrough year with a 56-26 rout on Sunday. In clinch-ing the AFC’s second seed, Buf-falo will host its first playoff game in 24 years by facing the the Frank Reich-coached India-napolis Colts next weekend.

Reich is the former Bills backup who 28 years ago to the day led Buffalo to overcome a 32-point deficit in a 41-38 over-time win over the Houston Oil-ers in what still stands as the largest comeback in NFL history.

For Miami, the loss left coach Brian Flores and the Dolphins on the outside looking in by squandering an opportunity to

clinch just their third postsea-son berth in 18 years. Rather than taking care of their own business by clinching a playoff berth with a win, the Dolphins’ postseason ended with the Colts clinching the No. 7 seed by de-feating Jacksonville.

“We’re just worried about today, that’s where my mind is

— our performance today. It’s not on anything other than that,” Flores said. “It wasn’t good enough. Right now, I’m disap-pointed we didn’t play well today.”

Not even close.The Dolphins (10-6) didn’t get

Associated PressMiami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passes in the first half of a game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y.

See MIAMI/Page B3

Postseason picture comes into focus

Cleveland ends playoff drought

BARRY WILNER AP pro football writer

Welcome to the postseason, Cleveland.

Cleveland?The Browns ended their

string of non-playoff seasons on Sunday with a tighter- than-expected 24-22 victory over archrival Pittsburgh, which sat many of its starters. Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999, made the play-offs in 2002, and then, zilch. Until now.

“It’s a moment I’ll never for-get,” quarterback Baker May-field said. “But we’re not satisfied. We expected to be here.”

The NFL’s two longest play-off droughts have been snapped with the advance-ments of Tampa Bay and Cleveland, both 11-5. The

Buccaneers, who downed At-lanta 44-27, already were in and secured the fifth seed in the NFC, setting up a trip to the sub-.500 NFC East winner, either Washington or the Gi-ants. Tampa Bay’s last trip to the postseason was 2007.

The Jets now have the unen-viable streak of going home early, beginning in 2011.

Cleveland gets a rematch with the Steelers, who will have back their regulars in Pittsburgh next weekend. Re-gardless, this is an unfamiliar feeling in the Dawg Pound.

“There are hundreds of thousands, not just here,” de-fensive end Myles Garrett said of the Browns’ fan support. “The 12,000 here, that was great, but there are so many Browns (fans) all over the world who were happy to see us get this win and finally get into the dance.”

Green Bay (13-3) is the top seed in the NFC after beating Chicago 35-16, but the Bears (8-8) got in as the lowest

See PLAYOFFS/Page B3

StandingsAMERICAN CONFERENCE

East W L T Pct PF PAyx-Buffalo 13 3 0 .813 501 375Miami 10 6 0 .625 404 338New England 7 9 0 .438 326 353N.Y. Jets 2 14 0 .125 243 457

South W L T Pct PF PAx-Indianapolis 11 5 0 .688 451 362yx-Tennessee 11 5 0 .688 491 439Houston 4 12 0 .250 384 464Jacksonville 1 15 0 .063 306 492

North W L T Pct PF PAyx-Pittsburgh 12 4 0 .750 416 312x-Baltimore 11 5 0 .688 468 303x-Cleveland 11 5 0 .688 408 419Cincinnati 4 11 1 .281 311 424

West W L T Pct PF PA*zyx-Kansas City 14 2 0 .875 473 362Las Vegas 8 8 0 .500 434 478L.A. Chargers 7 9 0 .438 384 426Denver 5 11 0 .313 323 446

NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PAWashington 6 9 0 .400 315 315Dallas 6 10 0 .375 395 473N.Y. Giants 6 10 0 .375 280 357Philadelphia 4 10 1 .300 320 398

South W L T Pct PF PAyx-New Orleans 12 4 0 .750 482 337x-Tampa Bay 11 5 0 .688 492 355Carolina 5 11 0 .313 350 402Atlanta 4 12 0 .250 396 414

North W L T Pct PF PA*zyx-Green Bay 13 3 0 .813 509 369x-Chicago 8 8 0 .500 372 370Minnesota 7 9 0 .438 430 475Detroit 5 11 0 .313 377 519

West W L T Pct PF PAyx-Seattle 12 4 0 .750 459 371x-L.A. Rams 10 6 0 .625 372 296Arizona 8 8 0 .500 410 367San Francisco 6 10 0 .375 376 390x-clinched playoff spoty-clinched divisionz-clinched first round bye*-clinched home-field advantage

ScheduleSunday’s Games

Baltimore 38, Cincinnati 3Buffalo 56, Miami 26Cleveland 24, Pittsburgh 22Minnesota 37, Detroit 35N.Y. Giants 23, Dallas 19New England 28, N.Y. Jets 14Tampa Bay 44, Atlanta 27Green Bay 35, Chicago 16Indianapolis 28, Jacksonville 14L.A. Chargers 38, Kansas City 21L.A. Rams 18, Arizona 7Las Vegas 32, Denver 31New Orleans 33, Carolina 7Seattle 26, San Francisco 23Tennessee 41, Houston 38Washington at Philadelphia, late

Colts get past Jags, back into playoffsINDIANAPOLIS — Jona-

than Taylor rushed for a franchise-record 253 yards and two scores, capping the Indianapolis Colts’ 28-14 playoff-clinching victory over Jacksonville with a 45-yard touchdown run with 3:35 to go.

Indianapolis 28, Jacksonville 14

Jacksonville 0 7 7 0 — 14 Indianapolis 10 10 0 8 — 28

First QuarterInd—Hilton 6 pass from Rivers (Blanken-

ship kick), 10:16.Ind—FG Blankenship 22, 1:16.

Second QuarterInd—Jo.Taylor 1 run (Blankenship kick),

11:40.Ind—FG Blankenship 24, 2:38.Jac—Shenault 9 pass from Glennon

(Rosas kick), :27.Third Quarter

Jac—Shenault 8 pass from Glennon (Rosas kick), 6:26.

Fourth QuarterInd—Jo.Taylor 45 run (Hilton pass from

Rivers), 3:35. Jac IndFirst downs 18 23Total Net Yards 283 437Rushes-yards 17-53 37-273Passing 230 164Punt Returns 2-16 4-40Kickoff Returns 2-47 1-23Interceptions Ret. 1-19 0-0Comp-Att-Int 26-42-0 17-27-1Sacked-Yards Lost 6-31 0-0Punts 7-47.9 4-43.3Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0Penalties-Yards 3-54 1-15Time of Possession 26:22 33:38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Jacksonville, Ogunbowale

14-50, Godwin 1-3, Glennon 1-2, Shenault 1-(minus 2). Indianapolis, Taylor 30-253, Hines 2-17, Brissett 2-3, Pittman 1-2, Rivers 2-(minus 2).

PASSING—Jacksonville, Glennon 26-42-0-261. Indianapolis, Rivers 17-27-1-164.

RECEIVING—Jacksonville, Conley 7-87, Shenault 6-68, Ogunbowale 4-22, Godwin 3-32, Cole 3-23, Eifert 1-10, O’Sha